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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Vatican
City, 16 October 2013 (VIS) – After considering the unity, holiness
and catholicity of the Church, as defined by the Creed, the Holy
Father today addressed her apostolic nature. During the catechesis of
the Pope's general audience in St. Peter's Square, he stated that “to
profess that the Church is apostolic means underlining her
constitutive bond with the Apostles, with that small group of twelve
men whom Jesus called to Him by name one day, to ask them to stay
with Him and to send them to preach. Indeed, 'apostle' is a Greek
word meaning 'messenger', 'envoy'.

“The
Apostles were chosen, called and sent by Jesus in order to continue
His work, that is, prayer, the first task of an apostle, and
secondly, to proclaim the Gospel”, continued the Pope, recalling
that in the first years of the Church, to enable the apostles to have
enough time for prayer, they instituted deacons to help them with
their evangelising mission. “And when we think of their successors,
of the bishops – including the Pope, because he too is a bishop”,
he added, “we have to wonder if this successor of the Apostles
prays, first of all, and then proclaims the Gospel. This is what it
means to be an apostle, and this is why the Church is apostolic”.

The
Church is apostolic “because she is based on the preachings and
prayer of the Apostles, on the authority given to them by Christ
Himself”, said the Pope, quoting St. Paul who, in his letter to the
Christians of Epheseus compared them to “living stones, forming a
house that is the Church, and this edifice is based on the Apostles,
who are its columns, and the cornerstone of Jesus Himself. Without
Jesus there can be no Church – he is the base and foundation. The
Apostles lived with Jesus, they listened to His words, they shared in
His life and, above all, they witnessed His Death and Resurrection.
Our faith, the Church that Christ wanted, is not based on an idea, on
a philosophy, but on Christ Himself. And the Church is like a plant
that grows throughout the centuries … and has borne fruit, but the
roots are planted deeply in Him, and the fundamental experience of
the Apostles, chosen and sent by Jesus, reaches us”.

“But”,
Pope Francis asked, “how is it possible for us to connect with this
testimony of those who lived with and listened to Him?” He
responded that it is the Catechism that affirms that the Church is
apostolic, since she “keeps and hands on the teaching, the 'good
deposit', the salutary words she has heard from the Apostles”; that
is, “she conserves over the centuries the valuable treasure of the
Sacred Scripture, the doctrine, the sacraments, the ministry of the
pastors, so that we can be faithful to Christ and participate in His
life. It is like a river flowing through history … but the water
that flows is always that which emerges from the source, from Christ
Himself. He is the Risen One, the Living One, and His words do not
pass away from us. Christ never passes away from us, He is here,
among us”.

Addressing
the thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Holy
Father said, “Do we ever think of how it has been precisely the
Church who, in her path across these centuries, in spite of
difficulties, problems and weakness, who has transmitted Christ's
authentic message to us, and who gives us the security that what we
believe in is really what Christ communicated to us?”

Finally,
the Church is apostolic because “she is sent to bring the Gospel to
all the world. She continues, on her path through history, the very
mission that Christ entrusted to the Apostles: 'Go and make disciples
of all nations. … And surely I am with you always, to the very end
of the age'. I insist on the missionary aspect of the Church, because
Christ invites us all to the encounter with others, He sends us, He
asks us to be on our way, to bring the joy of the Gospel to all!”

The
Holy Father concluded, “The Church has her roots in the teaching of
the Apostles, authentic witnesses of Christ, but looks to the future,
and has the fixed awareness of being sent by Christ, of being
Christ's missionary, of bringing forth Christ's name by prayer,
proclamation and witness. A Church closed in on herself and the past,
a Church who focuses only on minor rules and habits, betrays her own
identity”.

Vatican
City, 16 October 2013 (VIS) – In his greetings in several languages
at today's general audience, the Pope addressed, among others, the
German students of the Mulhausen Liebfrauenschule. “Learn from St.
Augustine who said, 'seek not to understand that you may believe, but
believe that you may understand'. May the Holy Spirit accompany you
in your endeavours”.

“Today
in Katowice”, he said to the Polish pilgrims, “an important
cultural and religious event is taking place: a holy representation
of the life and spirituality of St. Francis, with the participation
of hundreds of actors and thousands of spectators. I express my wish
to the organisers and participants that this artistic encounter with
the 'Poverello' of Assisi may arouse in the hearts of all those
present the love for God the Creator, respect for creation and true
charity for all those in need of spiritual and material assistance”.

“I
entrust all present, and your loved ones, to the heavenly
intercession of Blessed John Paul II, on the thirty-fifth anniversary
of his election to the Chair of St. Peter, and impart my heartfelt
blessing”.

In
Italian he warmly addressed the staff of the various embassies to the
the Holy See, whom he thanked for their valuable work, and the
delegates of the “Mouvement International Quart Monde”, “on the
eve of the World Day for the Refusal of Misery and on World Food Day,
convened by the United Nations”.

Vatican
City, 16 October 2013 (VIS) – The Holy Father has written a message
to Jose Graziano de Silva, director general of the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on the occasion of World Food
Day, celebrated every year on October 16 to mark the foundation of
the FAO, and which this year focuses on the theme: “Sustainable
Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition”.

“Paradoxically,
in a moment in which globalisation allows us to be informed of
situations of need throughout the world, and to multiply exchanges
and human relations, there appears to be a growing tendency towards
individualism and inwardness, which leads to a certain attitude of
indifference – at a personal, institutional and State level –
towards those who die of hunger and suffer as a result of
malnutrition, as if it were an inescapable fact”, writes the Pope.
“But hunger and malnutrition can never be considered a fact of
life, to which we must accustom ourselves, almost as if it were 'part
of the system'. Something must change in us, in ourselves, in our
mentality, in our societies”.

For
these changes to be made, Pope Francis adds that “an important step
is to break down decisively the barriers of individualism, of being
wrapped up in ourselves, of slavery to profit at all costs, and this
applies not only to the dynamics of human relations, but also in the
global economic and financial dynamics”.

He
continues, “I think that it is necessary, today more than ever, for
us to educate ourselves in solidarity, rediscovering the value and
meaning of this uncomfortable word which is so often set aside, and
to turn it into the attitude that forms the basis of decisions made
at a political, economic and financial level, and of relations
between people, populations and nations”.

Although
steps have been taken, “we are still far from a world in which
everyone may live in a dignified way”, he writes. “This leads to
serious questions on the need to modify our lifestyles in a concrete
way”, including our approaches to food which, “in many areas of
the planet, are marked by consumerism, waste and squander. … It
would be sufficient to eliminate such waste to drastically reduce the
number of people who go hungry”.

Pope
Francis introduces a third element for consideration: “education in
solidarity and a lifestyle that rejects the 'throwaway culture', and
which truly places each person and his or her dignity in the centre,
begins in the family”. He concludes by emphasising that “the
Catholic Church walks this path with you, aware that charity and love
are the soul of her mission”.